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Leafpool's Wish/Chapter 10
Chapter description :As sunrises roll past, Leafpool notices how her kits are growing faster than she had ever thought. Five days after their birth, she and Squirrelflight usher the kits outside, and they stumble out in the snow. The brown tabby notes that Lionkit and Hollykit had already opened their eyes, being amber and green respectively, which reminded her of newleaf and warmth and the certainty that the snow would not stay forever. :Leafpool goes to fish out her unnamed kit, whose eyes were still shut, out of a snowdrift, and is dazzled by him blinking. She gasps that his eyes are like a jay's wing. Squirrelflight bounds over and suggests that they call him Jaykit. The medicine cat nods in agreement, thinking that he will one day be Jayfeather, like his father. Jaykit runs in a circle and blunders back into the snowdrift, with the ginger she-cat hooking him out with an amused purr. :Lionkit squeaks and Jaykit totters in the direction of the sound. Leafpool finds Hollykit wrestling with a leaf, and she calls the kit back to their nest. The she-cat licks their fur clean before they start exploring the inside of the tree. Lionkit finds the dry clump of moss Leafpool drank from during her birth, and he starts rolling around with it. His sister watches him for a moment, and then goes over to join him. :Leafpool notices Jaykit marching around the den, who then slips on a wet leaf and bumps his nose into the bark wall. She is ready to comfort him, but the gray kit shakes his head and goes to join the moss game. Hollykit stops playing and lets Jaykit have a turn at shredding the ball. Leafpool feels a rush of love for the kits, noting how there was a special place in her heart for the smallest kit, who seemed more vulnerable than his littermates. :A half a moon passes, and the she-cats bask in the welcoming patch of sunlight outside of the hollow tree. In front of them, the kits are pushing fronds of dead bracken into a pile, and then leaping off of grassy tussock in the middle of it. Lionkit boasts how he can jump the highest, and tells the she-cats to watch him. After the tom plunges into the ferns, his brother tells Leafpool and Squirrelflight to watch him, too, and he lands on his brother. Hollykit then teases Jaykit on how he is so silly. :Squirrelflight jokes that they have just seen flying hedgehogs, and tells the kits to come over there to clean them up. Lionkit and Jaykit ignore her, and scampers back to the tussock. Leafpool exclaims that they have so much energy, with the ginger she-cat adding that they are growing face. She pauses, and tells her sister that they should take them back soon. The tabby she-cat tells her sister that she wishes she didn't have to, with her sister replying that she knows, but they don't have a choice. :Leafpool wonders if they will remember this time, and if there will always be a part of them that knows the truth. She then wonders if Brambleclaw will love them as well, and through him, Tigerstar. Leafpool then wonders if Brambleclaw knew that the kits were born. With realization, she looks at Lionkit in alarm, and worries if Tigerstar will lure him to the Dark Forest as well. :Leafpool hears a wail, and realizes Jaykit was gone. Lionkit and Hollykit are standing on top of the tussock, with the former calling that their younger brother fell in a hole, and the latter calling him a mouse-brain. Their mother hushes them, and bounds over to them to take a look. Jaykit's ears were poking out of a gap, and he wails for help. Leafpool leans down into the hole and grabs him, hauling him out of the hole. :Jaykit thanks the brown she-cat for rescuing him, and asks if that was a really big adventure. She purrs that it was, and looks into her son's eyes. Leafpool then looks over her shoulder, and asks the gray tom to fetch a big leaf for her. Hollykit offers to get it, but the medicine cat tells her that Jaykit can manage. Leafpool watches him as he trots away from her, and the kit then pauses after stepping on a dead leaf. He asks her if this is the right leaf, but the she-cat tells him to find the biggest leaf he can. :Jaykit brushes his whiskers over the leaf he is standing on, and moves sideways, doing the same with the next leaf. Satisfied, the kit picks up the second leaf and brings it back to Leafpool, almost tripping over the bottom edge in the process. Squirrelflight asks her why she told him to do that. Her sister explains how Jaykit didn't choose the biggest leaf, and details how he only stopped when he stepped on the leaf and how he measured the size of the leaf with his whiskers. :Squirrelflight asks her if she is missing something, and Leafpool reveals that she thinks Jaykit is blind. The dark ginger she-cat asks her if she is sure, and the medicine cat nods in response. Feeling bad for the gray kit, she asks Leafpool what sort of life he will have, with her snapping that he will have the same life as his littermates. Squirrelflight exclaims that blind cats can't be warriors, noting how Longtail had to retire to the elders' den as soon as he lost his sight. :Leafpool hisses in response that there will be an equal place for Jaykit as any of kits, and she will make sure of it, even if her sister will not. The she-cats then watch the three kits tumble down grass, and when the blind kit rolls too close to a patch of brambles, Hollykit nudges him away from the thorns. Leafpool then points out that Jaykit's littermates already know how to look after him. She then silently tells him to be brave, and promises to always walk with him. Characters Major *Squirrelflight }} Minor *Hollykit *Jaykit }} Mentioned *Tigerstar *Longtail }} Important events *It is revealed that Jaykit is blind. Notes and references Category:Chapter subpages Category:Leafpool's Wish Category:Novellas